


aranea et flamma

by carefulfleshgnawer



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Entomophobia, Gen, canon-typical demon presence, mildly gothic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24641302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulfleshgnawer/pseuds/carefulfleshgnawer
Summary: There is a spider on his bed, and a voice not quite inside his head.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 36





	aranea et flamma

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this up real quick bc I couldn't get the idea out of my head lmao. Very little editing & proofrieding done, let me know if I missed any mistakes.
> 
> EDIT: I wasn't happy with this because I essentially typed it up and immediately posted... And so I proofread & streamlined as of July 9th. Also added some stuff and took some stuff off to lessen the clutter. Should read better now.

It’s the end of a day of endless chores and scrubbing floors and whining about it for Renzou. Father doesn’t often make him do all that, but he supposes he deserves for… what happened the other day.

Anyway - he’s fresh out of a bath and ready to fall asleep the second his head hits the pillow; in fact he’s in bed, has just gotten under the blanket and then - he sees it. A spider.

His reaction is instant - he shuffles away in a panic, ending up backed into the corner of his bed. 

It crawls closer on long, gangly legs, exploring the planes of his covers. 

Logically, Renzou knows the spider has no ill will towards him. It is probably just hungry or searching for a good place to build a web, or whatever else it is that spiders do.

But Renzou, oh, he can not stand the sight of it! How that wretched thing makes his skin crawl and his heart race!

It comes ever-closer, slowly but surely.

“Hey, Juu-nii? Kin-nii? Anyone?” he calls out, needing someone else to… take care of it. But there is no answer.

He calls out again - still nothing.

So he sits there, afraid and chewing on his lip nervously. What should he do? All the while he waits, the spider crawls closer in arcs and loops, moving this way and that. So close now - terrible! It is just in front of him!

What can he do? Oh, it’s right there! What if it crawls onto him? He feels like he’ll die if that happens. Renzou flattens back against the wall, making himself as small as possible.

“Someone, please help! There’s a spider!” he yells out into a house that obviously doesn’t hear him, voice higher and louder and more empathic than before. 

Is this how he dies? Cowering in his own bed, done in by a tiny little spider?

Then something strange happens- 

he feels a wave of tingling pass over his skin from the top of his head to his toes and he thinks- he hears-

A black flame manifests from nowhere and engulfs the spider. An agonising second passes before it ceases crawling; and then- it stays still, stuck as if paused on a frame of animation. The flame disappears like it was never there.

Renzou waits and  _ waits _ for it to move again, baffled and confused. ‘What is this,’ he wonders, ‘what did I just see?’

He feels something shift in the air. A breeze? But the windows are-

/i killed it for you,/ a voice he has never heard says, sounding like it’s coming from every corner of the room at once.

Renzou holds his breath for a second, unsure if he's imagining it. There doesn't seem to be any sounds or breezes...

"It's... dead?" he mumbles carefully, more scared by the spider still than the maybe-there body-less voice.

There is nothing for a moment, but before he can relax: It laughs, and it is a terrible, drum-like sound. Bounces around inside his skull. His vision swims and his muscles slacken for a second. Renzou sags against the wall, head thumping, more confused and scared now.

/as dead as it will ever be/ it says once done laughing. Sounds closer now - right behind his ear; a gentle, cool gust that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

Renzou turns - and nothing. Looks around wearily for whoever is speaking and sees no one. 

Nobody has come through the door, and no object has as much as moved... as far as he knows...

Renzou finds himself unnerved. But this fear of a disembodied voice takes a back seat to the fear of the very real spider on his bed. He eyes it balefully.

It, once again, does not move.

A few seconds pass like that and Renzou feels a pit forming in his gut, dread falling into it. He swallows and looks around once more, nervously.

Dead, it says? 

"But it looks alive," he utters in a meeker voice than intended. He clears his throat, "it - it didn't burn up with the fire; there was no smoke, no ash," he looks down at the spider again. It doesn't look dead or even hurt. It looks perfectly fine. "...Are you lying?"

At the last bit he looks around the room once more. Still empty.

/i would not lie to you,/ the terrible voice whispers softly, in his other ear now, /it is dead. it burned. you just did not see./

"I was watching," Renzou counters, eyes zipping around in hopes of finding  _ something _ to look at. More sure, he adds, "I was watching and it didn't burn!" 

But why isn't the spider moving? Why won't it crawl off his bed?

/it cannot,/ the voice croons, /you were watching, but you did not see. just as you watch now, and do not see me./ it's further off, in front of him. Not in front of him. Somewhere - but where? To the side, above, or under? The room is cold now, gooseflesh rises on his neck and arms and legs and  _ everywhere. _

And then - the voice is beside him,  _ inside _ him, /it burned very brightly. it wanted to live. to eat. to hunt./ it sounds like leering, like an ugly grin, /but i killed it for you; you wanted it dead! aren't i so good to you?/

"I don't know what you are," Renzou mumbles with a shiver, perhaps finally realising he is talking to someone -  _ something _ \- he shouldn't. But what does it want? Father had warned him-

/oh,/ it coos, cutting the thought off before it can form, /do not fear me now, i will not hurt you. did i not prove this?/

Is it proof? Renzou watches the spider on his blanket. Is it proof the owner of the voice will not hurt him?

A part of him thinks that-

/yes, it is. i would not do this for just anyone. fear that wretched bug no longer, and do not begin to fear  _ me _ ,/ easier said than done.

/eventually, boy, you will have to fear nothing at all./

What strange things this voice utters. "What does that mean?"

/yaozou will teach you, but you will need the khakkara and my passage before you can begin./

Father? The khakkara? He's not allowed to use it. Just what is this voice? And what is a 'passage'?

"Why are you telling me all this? Who are you?"

A wysp of fire forms before him. Darker than the night sky or Black itself - a void that sucks in light - a cold bastardisation of fire. 

Eyes open from within it, gleaming and slit-pupiled, though less like a cat's and more like a goat's. Rings of colour move outwards to the edges of the golden iris like waves. Odd and eerie and  _ mesmerising _ . 

He can not look away from it.

/because you are mine,/ it says. the edges of Renzou’s vision crawl with shadows, tunneling to the strange, hungry flame. He feels light-headed.

/and i... am yours too, of course,/ it adds like a second thought, /to use in battle, to conquer -or whatever - with./

"Why?" he asks weakly. On the verge of slumping over, but still he cannot tear his gaze away from the flame. 

It is almost as if this alone keeps him upright. 

Then there is the sound of rushing water in his ears - it pulses haphazardly along to his erratic heartbeat. 

Why is his heart racing so fast, so desperate? Is he so afraid?

/a contract,/ it answers, and Renzou can just barely remember the question in his faintness. He feels something sharp caress over his forehead, where his scar is, /signed with your blood./ the voice is wistful. Longing.

/soon, it will be time. I wait ever so patiently./ it says, sounding much more eager. Almost excited. 

Renzou feels his hackles rise. The eyes blink at him, and the pupils turn round briefly before flattening again.

The room feels so cold, but it should not. It isn't winter. His hands are shaking. He leans against the wall fully now, unsure that he could keep upright without it.

'Time for what?' he thinks, no longer enough strength to speak out loud.

The voice chuckles and the flame fizzles out, not giving him an answer.

The room seems lighter when it is gone. Warmer. Renzou tries to keep his eyes open to no avail. Soon enough he slumps over, unconscious.

The dead spider bounces with the movement, lost within the sheets.


End file.
